Mattress pads, or mattress covers, for maintaining the cleanliness and neat appearance of mattresses are well known. Mattress pads generally comprise a top portion of a quilted fabric material or of a nonporous waterproof sanitary material such as a thin sheet of rubber, and some means for holding the pad onto the mattress.
Mattress pads may be simple pads which loosely overlie the top of a mattress or may be fitted to the mattress, in the same manner as a fitted sheet. In a typical fitted mattress pad, depending side panels are sewn or otherwise attached to the pad itself to secure the mattress pad to the mattress. In turn, some structure is provided to secure the side panels to the mattress so that the mattress pad will remain in place and not slip or be dislodged from the mattress. One such typical structure is to provide either a draw string or elastic band near the hem of the side panels. Other means for holding the mattress pad include providing side panels with triangular corner panels at the bottom of the side panels, so that the corners of the mattress pad engage the corners of the mattress.
It has been found that, even with the use of structure like those described for holding the mattress pad onto the mattress, the problem persists that the mattress pad tends to slip or even fall off the mattress merely because of the normal motions of a person sleeping on the bed. This problem is exacerbated by recent changes in what had previously been standard mattress sizes. Thus, where there had been for some years prevailing standards of mattress sizes in the bedding industry, recently manufacturers have been producing and marketing mattresses of nonstandard sizes. With many types of known mattress pads, the dimensions of the mattress pad must be very close to the dimensions of the mattress for the mattress pad to fit properly.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a mattress pad which will remain secured to a mattress more effectively than known mattress pads.
It is another object of the invention to provide a mattress pad which is able to fit over mattresses of a variety of lengths, widths, and thicknesses.